UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is making his Conservative Party conference speech - where he says the UK needs to "build back better".

The conference is being held online because of coronavirus.

He begins by saying his government is "working night and day to repel this virus" and he says "we will succeed".

Johnson says any criticism that his own bout of Covid-19 had "stolen his mojo" was "self-evident drivel".

"I can refute these critics of my athletic abilities in any way," he says.

"The reason I had such a nasty experience was… I had a very common underlying condition. My friends, I was too fat."

He says he has since lost weight.

Robert Cuffe
BBC head of statistics

In the week of 25 September, 234 registered deaths involved Covid-19 in the UK, three times higher than the low point reached three weeks previously.

That level is well below the peak of 9,500 deaths in a week in mid-April and rising more slowly too, but the rate of rise is eerily familiar for a different reason.

We have been seeing hospitalisations double roughly every two weeks, and confirmed cases are currently rising at that rate (if you strip out all the issues with delayed reporting).

As we move towards the season of respiratory viruses, scientists advising the government say that we should expect these numbers to rise, since they do every year.

The main question will be whether current rising numbers of detected infections flows through to the same rate of growth in the number of deaths in the coming weeks.

The US president's former lawyer has told the BBC that Donald Trump will return to the White House with an "identical understanding" of coronavirus despite his diagnosis.

Michael Cohen said Mr Trump's understanding is "predicated on ignorance and arrogance", claiming the president thinks he can bully Covid-19.

Mr Cohen is under house arrest after being convicted for crimes including Trump campaign finance violations.

Image source, Getty Images

Alcohol abuse has increased during the coronavirus pandemic, according to the British Liver Trust which has reported a 500% rise in calls to its helpline since lockdown began in March.

Tracy, from Chelmsford, says she's now two months sober, but the lockdown "was the worst thing that could happen to anybody, especially for the alcoholics and addicts and people with mental health issues, as we isolate ourselves".

"With the lockdown, I thought we were all going to die, so I got drunk for a week," she tells the BBC.

"I covered myself so I would not lose my job this time. I knew I was going to drink, so I phoned them and got a doctor's certificate. Covid was a great cover story: no-one was seeing you, you could do it over the phone."

Joseph Harrington, from Uttlesford in Essex, also says lockdown was "very isolating".

"My mental health wasn't great. I just felt very isolated and trapped and lonely," he says.

Tracy and Joseph are among those who shared their stories of dealing with alcoholism during the pandemic with the BBC. Read more here.

If you, or someone you know, has been affected by alcohol addiction, some of these organisations may be able to help

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The global quest to find a vaccine for Covid-19 has so far tended to focus on the clinical research.

But manufacture and distribution are also major issues in creating a vaccine.

Our colleagues at BBC Future take a look at the challenges in the quest to make a global vaccine in 12 months.

As US President Donald Trump leaves hospital, where he has been treated for Covid-19, Emily Maitlis and Jon Sopel ask what this means for the presidential race.

You can listen to our Americast podcast here or wherever you normally find your podcasts.

Image source, Sue Taylor and Lola Mitchell

Some train customers in the UK have found themselves unable to get refunds for tickets they can no longer use.

In some parts of the country people have recently been advised against all but essential travel due to coronavirus, but passengers with advance tickets to or from these areas have been told they're not entitled to their money back.

Refunds were given for advance tickets during the nationwide lockdown but the Rail Delivery Group, which represents train operators, said the government had decided not to do the same now.

Read more here

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Irish Taoiseach (PM) Micheál Martin says people must act now to avoid an "immediate comprehensive lockdown", as so-called level-three restrictions come into force on Wednesday.

Under the new rules people should remain in their own county and work from home unless absolutely necessary.

But the government has rejected advice from the public health emergency team NPHET to go further and impose the maximum level five restrictions.

Mr Martin said doing so could have "severe implications" and would put hundreds of thousands of jobs at risk.

"If we all act now we can stop the need to go further, with introducing level four and five restrictions," he continued.

The opposition is expected to question the government's decision not to act on the NPHET advice later on Tuesday.

Read more here.

Reality Check

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UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak has again played down the suggestion that the Eat Out to Help Out scheme, which provided 50% discounts to diners in August, helped spread the virus.

He points to the South West of England, where the scheme was most widely used and where infection rates are the lowest.

This point is true. However, the South West has always had substantially lower case rates than the rest of England throughout the crisis. This could be a mixture of other factors, including a low population density, which means the virus is less likely to spread.

The truth is that we don’t know exactly how much transmission is happening in restaurants, bars or other public places.

Outbreak data from Public Health England (PHE), for example, requires two or more people to get tested, report their recent visits accurately to tracers and for public health officials to investigate the location. This is more likely to happen in prioritised places like care homes or schools than restaurants.

And other PHE data shows that covid-positive people were most likely to tell contact tracers they had gone to a restaurant in the days leading up to developing symptoms than any other location.

But neither of these data sources actually confirm the location of transmission.

What we do know is that scientists have long warned about the risks of indoor public gatherings.

The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) said in early February that closing pubs and restaurants would have the biggest impact on slowing the virus.

However, they also pointed out that the size of these gatherings didn't matter – just the closeness of contacts. This means that, if social distancing was strictly adhered to, it could help mitigate risks.

Michelle Roberts
Health editor, BBC News online

Image source, Reuters

Considering we’re told President Trump tested positive on Thursday he seems to be making great progress - especially as he is a high risk patient, being 74, a man, overweight and living with a heart condition.

He’s received a cocktail of drugs normally reserved for the sickest of Covid patients who have been ill for weeks, not days, to aid and hasten his recovery.

It’s not clear when Mr Trump caught the virus or first started to feel unwell. Most people who develop symptoms do so on around day five. Some people have only mild symptoms that clear up after a week or so with some bed rest.

A turning point can be at around day seven, with some patients getting a more serious lung infection from the virus. These patients need to be in hospital because they can deteriorate quickly and need expert care. The body can go into overdrive fighting the virus, leading to respiratory failure, septic shock and multiple organ damage.

Mr Trump’s doctors say they remain cautiously optimistic about the president’s health but “on guard” for at least the coming week should things take a turn for the worse.

James Gallagher
Health and science correspondent, BBC News

For most people Covid-19 is a brief and mild disease, but some are left struggling with symptoms including lasting fatigue, persistent pain and breathlessness for months.

The condition known as "long Covid" is having a debilitating effect on people's lives, and stories of being left exhausted after even a short walk are now common.

So far, the focus has been on saving lives during the pandemic, but there is now a growing recognition that people are facing long-term consequences of a Covid infection.

Yet even basic questions - such as why people get long Covid or whether everyone will fully recover - are riddled with uncertainty.

Read more from James

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The Scottish cabinet is due to meet later to discuss the possible reintroduction of tougher restrictions to stem the spread of Covid-19.

Some government advisers have backed the idea of a "circuit breaker" lockdown - a short, sharp period of tightened measures.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has suggested that further restrictions could be rolled out "in the near future".

The government has not indicated what sort of extra measures could be introduced.

Read more here

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Almost 400 students and staff at Queen's University in Belfast, Northern Ireland, are self-isolating after more than 160 people tested positive for Covid-19.

A university spokesperson said the safety and wellbeing of staff and students was the university's first priority.

They also said evidence gathered during contact tracing indicated that transmission was occurring "in social or accommodation settings as oppose to elsewhere on the campus".

More than 50 universities in the UK are now reported to have Covid cases, including Northumbria University which confirmed 770 students had tested positive since returning in mid-September.

Image source, EPA

French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire has promised to help bars and restaurants which "have been hit very hard" by Covid-19 restrictions. Parisian bars and cafes will shut for two weeks but restaurants must keep to strict measures if they want to remain open. "We'll stay by your sides - there is a solidarity fund and we'll strengthen it," he's told France Info TV. Mr Le Maire is also talking of including graphic designers, photographers and florists in the solidarity fund.

Italy's government is not expected to close restaurants or bars or even shut them early. But its science technology committee wants ministers to order the wearing of masks almost everywhere, when the Covid state of emergency is extended either today or tomorrow. Only isolated places would be exempt, as well as people on bicycles and motorbikes, reports say.

Denmark’s Alzheimer’s Society says local authorities and many nursing homes went too far in depriving elderly people of seeing loved ones. Society head Nis Peter Nissen said it was a serious violation of the constitution.

Irish taoiseach (PM) Micheál Martin says people must act now to avoid an "immediate comprehensive lockdown", as so-called level-three restrictions come into force at midnight tonight. The government has rejected advice from the public health emergency team NPHET to go further - you can read more here. Opposition parties are set to question the decision in the Dáil (parliament) later. Level three means people should remain in their own county and work from home unless absolutely necessary.

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

The UK government will have to consider new measures to contain coronavirus, epidemiologist Prof Neil Ferguson has warned.

Prof Ferguson, whose modelling of the way the disease spreads prompted the first lockdown, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the number of cases was increasing.

"We think that infections are probably increasing, doubling every two weeks or so, in some areas faster than that, maybe every seven days," he said.

The former government adviser said the "most important" measure to drive down infections was reducing contact between households.

He said schools should be kept open, but "we may have to give up more to keep them open".

Measures including extended half terms should be considered, he added.

Image source, Reuters

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has updated its guidance to acknowledge the role of airborne transmission in the spread of coronavirus.

The CDC now says that while the virus most often spreads through close contact or when an infected person sneezes or coughs, droplets containing the virus "can remain suspended in the air over long distances (usually greater than 6ft) and time (typically hours)".

While it said the spread of the virus in this way was rare, the CDC said it was more likely to happen in enclosed spaces with poor ventilation or when shouting, singing or exercising.

Medical experts have been calling for the CDC to include airborne transmission in its pandemic guidance, although many dispute the CDC's view that it is rare for the virus to spread in this way.

In a letter published, external in the journal Science on Monday, six academics said "one is far more likely to inhale aerosols than be sprayed by a droplet, and so the balance of attention must be shifted to protecting against airborne transmission".

BBC Breakfast

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Chancellor Rishi Sunak has defended England's 10pm closure time for pubs and restaurants, saying it was "better than having places closed".

"The curfew was something we were told by our advisers could well make a difference to the spread of the transmission," he told BBC Breakfast.

"In common with many other countries around the world this is thought to be something that can help suppress the spread of the virus."

The 10pm closures have been criticised by some, including by Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, who says it means people are gathering in homes and supermarkets that are "packed out to the rafters" once the bars closed.

The government is also under pressure from Tory MPs to abandon the policy.

BBC Reality Check looks at the evidence behind the 10pm closure time here.

Read more: What are the pub rules around the UK?

Image source, Getty Images

Singapore is offering a one-off payment to encourage people to have babies during the coronavirus pandemic.

The worry is that citizens are putting off parenthood as they struggle with financial stress and job insecurity.

"We have received feedback that Covid-19 has caused some aspiring parents to postpone their parenthood plans," Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat said on Monday.

Details of the amount that could be paid have yet to be released. It is in addition to several hefty baby bonuses offered by the government.

Singapore has one of the lowest birth rates in the world, which it has struggled to boost for decades.

Find out more here.

Anthony Zurcher
BBC North America reporter

Donald Trump says he has overcome the coronavirus - and you can, too.

In his video message from the White House, a mask-less Trump tells the American public: "Don't be afraid of it. You're going to beat it."

And so the president's message in the final weeks of his re-election campaign takes shape. He contracted the coronavirus because he was an out-front leader and he "had to do that".

"Nobody that's a leader would not do what I did," he said.

It is a message almost messianic in its undertones - one that the rest of his party is amplifying. The president has suffered and overcome, and will lead the nation to a promised land beyond the virus.

New York Post columnist Miranda Devine, quote-tweeted by the president, said Mr Trump would return to the campaign trail as an "invincible hero". Georgia Senator Kelly Loeffler tweeted out a video of Mr Trump tackling a virus-headed antagonist.

There is political and personal risk for the president, of course. He could experience a relapse or long-term medical difficulties. Americans who have lost loved ones to the disease may find his words and actions ill-considered or offensive.

The president, however, seems determined to turn his recent weakness into a strength.

Image source, Queen Victoria Hospital

Leading surgeons in England say there could be a "tsunami" of cancelled operations this winter, as the NHS copes with rising numbers of coronavirus patients.

The Royal College of Surgeons of England called it "a national crisis" and said it doubted that the NHS could meet targets to restore surgery back to near pre-pandemic levels.

Planned procedures such as hip replacements were paused to free up beds during lockdown in the spring, and hospitals have been dealing with a backlog since.

But an NHS spokesman said figures cited by the body underestimated the amount of surgery taking place.

Read more